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Pearl vanished while trying to meet
Jaish chief: Witness

K J M Varma in Islamabad

Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl went missing while trying to meet Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar, a witness told an anti-terrorism court in Karachi on Wednesday.

Asif Mehfooz Farooqui, a Rawalpindi-based journalist who assisted the reporter in his assignments in Pakistan, also identified prime accused Sheikh Omar Saeed as the man who set up an interview for Pearl with Islamic spiritual leader Pir Mubarik Hussain Shah Gilani on January 23, state-owned APP news agency reported.

He said he knew Sheikh as 'Bashir'.

The defence council grilled Farooqui on whether on was working for Mossad -- the Israeli intelligence unit -- or the Central Intelligence Agency.

The American reporter wanted to meet Pir Mubarik as he reported had connections with Richard Reid, caught in December on a Paris-Miami flight with explosives in his shoes.

Farooqui said Pearl had expressed fears for his safety during their last conversation.

His account tallied with reports in the Pakistani media soon after Pearl's abduction that he was attempting to find out the impact of the Musharraf government's crackdown on Jaish, which was banned on January 12.

Farooqui said he met Pearl for the first time in December 2001. He said Pearl called him on January 5 this year and told him about a news item on Ried.

"Daniel asked me whether I could arrange his meeting with Pir, as he wanted to interview him. He then tried to locate persons who were connected with Pir Mubarik Shah and located a person called Arif, who promised to arrange such a meeting," he told the court.

"Arif and I went to a place where we learnt that Pir Mubarik had vacated the house a month before," he said.

Farooqui said he had received a call from Arif, who told him that he had met one Bashir -- one of the closest aides of Pir Mubarik -- who promised to arrange such a meeting.

Pearl met Arif and Bashir on the same evening, he said, adding that Pearl tried to extract from them whatever information he could about Pir Mubarik.

After that Pearl left for Peshawar and later went to Karachi, Farooqui said.

He told the court that Pearl had called him on January 23 this year. The American scribe wanted to know "whether it is safe to meet Pir Mubarik Gilani", to which he replied that the Islamic leader was a public figure and there was no harm in meeting him.

"But the next day Pearl's wife rang me up and informed that her husband has not returned home," he said.

After Farooqui's deposition, the court adjourned the case for Thursday.

PTI

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